Lieberman: Politics and Policy

Posted by Nicholas Beaudrot of Electoral Math

I'm sure lots of readers are excited about the fresh batch of rumors that Lieberman will face a serious
primary challenge, but someone really needs to bring out the wet blanket; exactly zero news outlet have gotten anyone on the record on Ned Lamont. And even if the rumors were true, it's not clear that it would even matter.

On policy matters, Lieberman isn't really all that bad. He's just a hair to the right of being in the center-left of the party, with other Democratic Senators like Joe Biden (DE), Jeff Bingaman (NM), and Maria Cantwell (WA). He's a strong defender of the environment, and he has no desire to dismantle the entire regulatory state. On some economic matters, he's a bit to the right of my personal preferences, but on basic questions of who should be taxed, whether the government ought to provide certain services, and so forth, he's a stand-up guy. On close votes you could probably twist his arm if need be.

That's the upside; the downside is his dissent into unwavering hawkishness on Iraq, his moralizing posture on pop culture (he was bashing Grand Theft Auto before Hillary made it cool), and his perpetual Sistah Souljah-esque efforts to distance himself from prominent Democrats. So with his latest round of "maverick" quotes, even though he's at least partially correct, it's hard to take him seriously; it's just another instance of Lieberman trying to burnish his credibility as an "independent". Is it worth drumming Lieberman from office with a primary? That depends on how much you think his schtick harms the Democratic brand. Reasonable people can disagree on that point.

Whether or not its a good idea, it's close to impossible; Lieberman is enormously popular in his home state. In the latest SurveyUSA poll, taken after the last set of "Holy Joe" quotes, Lieberman enjoys majority support among all Democrats; even among self-described liberals (!). He has enough chits in the favor bank that he could raise fistfuls of money from the insurance and financial services industry. And large chunks of the state party establishment would likely stand by his side after all he has done for them (for instance, preserving Amtrak's historical routes through umpteen different townships in Eastern Connecticut, thus making the Boston-New York or Providence-New York train ride much longer than it needs to be). So let's find some other way to bring Lieberman back into the Reality-Based Community, and spend the money that would have gone to his primary challenger on, say, Harris Miller's Senate campaign against George Allen.